年饭

大年初一吃的饭。其实头一天大吃大喝吃撑了，所以这顿吃得比较简单。



年夜的时候纠集若干人趴踢了一下，RS难得做一次炸春卷，都忘了拍照留念了。第二天吃的饭也是这次吃剩的糯米饭，也是RS难得追求一次传统。我们现在趴踢因为没有中国人，完全降低了对自己的要求，大锅做，大盘烤就行了。而且我们这边的朋友大都太健康了，聚餐的时候都没什么战斗力，所以每次聚餐完剩的菜都够吃好多天了。

这个鸭子是阳历年的时候做的。我难得心血来潮折腾一次，折腾半天也没做好。我们都觉得这个吊鸭子的场面比较震撼。在网上学菜谱的时候，一个人是这样形容吊着的鸭子的，“一看就是共产党员，吊半天了一声都不吭”... RS还趁我从后面走过的时候照相，这看着十足就是一屠户啊！

Araby - James Joyce

http://fiction.eserver.org/short/araby.html

I read the story twice in a row and really love it. This is not the type
of story for which I would postpone my bed time if I start reading it at
11pm. I feel I can focus my mind on it only if I am not rushing anywhere
and read slowly. Then I would feel a lot of the images in the story
enter my mind and remain vivid. Many of the scenes in the story make me
feel I've been there, been to all these places. Like the street scene
when the boy walked with his aunt back from market, the drawing room in
the empty house, the playmates, the crush, the bazaar... I haven't
experienced these scenes from the story, but I have all their
counterparts in my own life.

And the bazaar scene, I feel it happened more than once in my life, and
I am sure it will happen again. For example, I once left Kings Canyon in
early-afternoon and drove to Yosemite. After tedious driving on endless
winding roads, I arrived at the center of Yosemite in the darkness of early
evening. I arrived there, failing to see anything, and knowing I would
have to drive for same amount of winding roads to get out of the park
and go to my next stop, San Francisco. This is just a simple,
superficial comparison to the story. But the bazaar scene in the story
happened at other times in my life too, and sometimes brought me much
deeper anguish and anger than missing Yosemite.

Stories like this leave me in awe that a writer knows everything about
human feelings, and how similar people can be in their life situations
and emotions.

2/5/10 决心 （2）

3. 今年要好好学习。一是好好学英语，再就是争取学点技术性的东西，统计之类的。在美国生活这么多年，逢到要写的东西，其实都是糊弄到达到最低要求为止。前些年根本不怎么看英文的东西还好，这些年渐渐开始喜欢一些英文书，从文盲变成半文盲，才开始真正体会到做文盲的痛苦。今年的决心就是要认真对待这个问题，近期目标是完成一个writing教程，远期目标是争取能用英文写比较人模狗样的文章。至于技术性的东西，算是以备不测吧。我有时候会觉得很恐慌，觉得自己从小学的东西和现在工作的东西，其实在现实社会都很没用嘛。现在这个社会，即使是贩卖知识和技能，人家也都是要现货的。我这样的人如果回国估计是连工作都找不到的。学点大众喜闻乐见的技术，也算是有点本领傍身吧。

4. 和和气气做人。不说发脾气的话（忍着也不说）。其实我觉得我在这方面挺有进步的，但是得不到承认！每次问某人“你说我是不是比以前温柔多了？” 得到的回答都是“这个这个，今天天气不错哈！”

其他想做的事还有很多。不过自己很迷恋的事，不用下决心也会做了，有时候还做过头了。需要下决心的事才是比较难做的，难做的才要下决心。